There is no dearth of books on the looming energy crisis. But Mansoor Khan’s book stands out, as it narrates the story in his own theory. His theory is not dry, but supported by sheer facts. Starting from cover-page to the end notes, the reader is presented with a graph of two curves, which form the focal point of his arguments.

‘The Third Curve’s main idea is to analyse the energy scenario on the generally accepted phenomenon called Peak Oil. According to M. King Hubert’s Hubbert peak theory, Peak Oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production is expected to enter terminal decline, Wikipedia says. Mansoor Khan refers to this event that has already happened somewhere around 2005.

Mansoor Khan’s prophecy is simple and straight forward: The world’s greed to ‘develop’ and raise the GDP in an exponential pace, irrespective of the supply of resources, is bound to result in a global economic collapse. Any other alternative to supplement the gap in energy resources and demand can never fill up the huge gap.

After analysing this scenario of demand-supply of oil for the ever growing industrial world, Mansoor Khan dwells on the futility of the so-called alternative energy sources. He is alert and cautious in measuring the carbon foot print it makes to develop other sources of energy. His comparison of alternate energy sources to his own set five rules like Net Energy (Energy returned on Energy Invested – EroEI), Oil Dependency, Energy Density, Scalability, By-products, — is the best part of his arguments.

Written in simple sentences, supported by a large number of illustrations, annotated by coloured texts (which remind me the beautiful production of ‘The Universe in a Nutshell’ by Stephen Hawking) the book by Mansoor Khan’s book is a path-breaking analysis of the mankind’s biggest crisis. His mastery over the present data is evident going by the Reading and Reference Material he provides.

Mansoor Khan has been visiting places in India to propagate his ideas and educate the people about the imminent bleak future. This shows his passion for the subject. His private farm is known to follow his own solutions the issue: Moving from Global back to local; Local food, Alternative Agriculture, Local Materials and Products and finally Peak Oil Awareness. His reference about Cuba’s A Real Peak Oil Story is the only topic subject to a neutral analysis.

From being a popular Bollywood Director (‘Qayamat se Qayamat Tak’, ‘Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar’, ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’), to an energy expert, Mansoor Khan has come a long way to capture the very essence of life and its goals.
`The Third Curve’ is a must read for social activists, scientists and policy makers.

THE THIRD CURVE :
The End of Growth as we know it
Author and Publisher :
Mansoor Khan
202 pages/ Rs. 495